I had a great time playing as the Mahdi. He’s the best folks, truly - but my time in this subreddit is done I think. Several factors have led me to declaim. Starting with claiming, I found myself thrown into an overly confusing sheet system that I had barely any understanding of. This led me to declaim in previous seasons, due to an environment hostile to new players, and an unwillingness from the mods and playerbase alike to welcome and teach new players the ropes. I was lucky enough this season to have an idea interesting enough to give me motivation to play, as well as a few players and mods who were kind enough to help me create a sheet, and explain to me enough that I felt comfortable participating.

It was after this that I got involved in a war - which I’m told is the thing to do in PWP. I now have quickly found myself dog-piled by faraway states with dubious reasoning. I find myself struggling to grapple with the combat system, it’s idiosyncrasies that most of my opponents understand intimately due to time and experience. I find myself surrounded, about to have my shit pushed in by faraway armies, and a new power-gaming threat in the process of bee-lining towards my country, and no hope of survival - let alone a satisfactory peace. And so, I am declaiming - which I have seen is the thing to do in this situation.

I would write lore for the Mahdi, what happened to him, and his gang of wacky followers, but frankly I have lost any motivation to participate in this war, or participate in this subreddit. I suppose the Mahdi disappeared one day, like he did thousands of years ago. Maybe he’ll be back, in another form, in another place.